Wolfram Research Releases Mathematica 7 234
mblase writes "Wolfram Research has released the seventh version of Mathematica, and it does a lot more than symbolic algebra. New features range from things as simple as cut-and-paste integration with Microsoft Word's Equation Editor to instant 3D models of mathematical objects to the most expensive clone of Photoshop ever. Full suites of genome, chemical, weather, astronomical, financial, and geodesic data (or support for same) is designed to make Mathematica as invaluable for scientific research as it is for mathematics."
Slashvertisement (Score:5, Insightful)
Maxima (Score:5, Informative)
Maxima [sourceforge.net] is released under the GPL.
Re:Maxima (Score:5, Insightful)
Maxima also sucks. Here's a session from just this afternoon.
[omf@midgar 14:45:36 ~]$ maxima .....
Maxima 5.13.0 http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
Using Lisp GNU Common Lisp (GCL) GCL 2.6.8 (aka GCL)
Distributed under the GNU Public License. See the file COPYING.
Dedicated to the memory of William Schelter.
This is a development version of Maxima. The function bug_report()
provides bug reporting information.
(%i1) Q=matrix....
(%i11) Q.T.transpose(Q);
(%o11) matrix([cos(t) (cos(t) T11 - sin(t) T12)
- sin(t) (cos(t) T21 - sin(t) T22), cos(t) (cos(t) T12 + sin(t) T11)
- sin(t) (cos(t) T22 + sin(t) T21), cos(t) T13 - sin(t) T23],
[cos(t) (cos(t) T21 - sin(t) T22) + sin(t) (cos(t) T11 - sin(t) T12),
cos(t) (cos(t) T22 + sin(t) T21) + sin(t) (cos(t) T12 + sin(t) T11),
cos(t) T23 + sin(t) T13], [cos(t) T31 - sin(t) T32, cos(t) T32 + sin(t) T31,
T33])
(%i12) trigsimp(%);
Universal error handler called recursively (:ERROR NIL
CONDITIONS::CLCS-UNIVERSAL-ERROR-HANDLER
""
"Couldn't protect")
Universal error handler called recursively (:ERROR NIL
CONDITIONS::CLCS-UNIVERSAL-ERROR-HANDLER
"" "Couldn't protect")
Maxima encountered a Lisp error:
Error in CONDITIONS::CLCS-UNIVERSAL-ERROR-HANDLER [or a callee]: Caught fatal error [memory may be damaged]
Automatically continuing.
To reenable the Lisp debugger set *debugger-hook* to nil.
(%i13) Q.trigsimp(T.transpose(Q));
(%o13) matrix([cos(t) (cos(t) T11 - sin(t) T12)
- sin(t) (cos(t) T21 - sin(t) T22), cos(t) (cos(t) T12 + sin(t) T11)
- sin(t) (cos(t) T22 + sin(t) T21), cos(t) T13 - sin(t) T23],
[cos(t) (cos(t) T21 - sin(t) T22) + sin(t) (cos(t) T11 - sin(t) T12),
cos(t) (cos(t) T22 + sin(t) T21) + sin(t) (cos(t) T12 + sin(t) T11),
cos(t) T23 + sin(t) T13], [cos(t) T31 - sin(t) T32, cos(t) T32 + sin(t) T31,
T33])
(%i14) trigsimp(Q.trigsimp(T.transpose(Q)));
Segmentation fault
[omf@midgar 14:48:25 ~]$
Computer algebra systems are not the best to begin with, but Maxima has a very, very long way to go before it can compete with Mathematica. Most of my analytical work on a daily basis is done using Maxima and I can safely say that the program could be a lot better than it currently is.
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I've actually had very good experiences with Maxima. I've never seen a crash. BTW, I notice that your version says "This is a development version of Maxima. The function bug_report() provides bug reporting information." Did you try reproducing the problem with the stable version? Did you report the bug?
The thing that made me vow never to touch Mathematica again was that I owned a MacOS version, and it stopped working when I upgraded to a newer version of MacOS. (This was all back in the 90's, so we're tal
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Octave and Maple a few years later.
Matlab, not Maple. Clearly it's time for a coffee.
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And may I stress here that bug reporting is one of the most helpful things you can do for any open source project? If you can provide a simple way to reproduce a problem, it is likely as good as fixed.
So, don't complain, report! (after that you may optionally complain). But don't assume developers will find it themselves, or that others will report the problem for you..
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:5, Interesting)
I've used Maxima [sourceforge.net] with good results. Not quite Mathematica, though.
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:5, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_computer_algebra_systems [wikipedia.org]
Take your pick. Some will obviously be better suited to your needs (or lack of needs) as appropriate.
Layne
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Wow, just what a teacher friend wanted. Thanks for the link.
Now, you don't happen to know of free replacements for Harvard ChartXL, do you? What I really need is 3-D graphing -- to make a long project short, I need to map a 3-D starfield and calculate distances between 'em.
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:4, Informative)
The Wikipedia list is very long. For anyone who's specifically interested in OSS that runs on Linux, here are some of my impressions:
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does it matter that it's open source or not? Open source is not inherently better than closed source.
Not saying open source is bad (AMP stack over IIS any day is one of the best foss examples), but it's also not a metric for quality either (MS Office is definitely better than OpenOffice... well, for now anyways).
So you call on slashdot to cut down on advertising, I call on slashdot to cut down on religious advocates. Use whats best, and if Mathematica puts open source alternatives to shame... so be it.
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:5, Insightful)
does it matter that it's open source or not? Open source is not inherently better than closed source.
Being able to show exactly which steps a CAS went through to arrive at a solution can be important. With Mathematica, you have to trust that the methods they use, which you can't see, are legitimate and don't introduce any unforeseen error.
I don't mean to pooh-pooh Mathematica; it's an excellent program. But being able to show 100% of your work has intrinsic value.
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:5, Insightful)
Absolutely.
I work on pretty much a daily basis with computer algebra systems. In my work, I am using CAS systems to perform integrals on what would be otherwise an unmanageable amount of equations, in order to generate some nice neat, but still quite large matrices. Despite its obvious technical inferiority [slashdot.org], I'm using Maxima to do this. A lot of this has to do with running Mathematica and the like on Linux, which is a painful process, but the peer reviewable nature of an open source system is another major factor.
I've said this before, but essentially Mathematica is the modern mathematical Oracle at Delphi; arcane, totally inscrutable, and regarded by almost everyone as infallible. You cannot use its results professional for anything other than integral tables or the like. At least, not in mathematics. Maybe physicists use it, but I'd have my doubts. (Engineers? ... well they're a heathen lot anyway...)
True, Mathematica is useful. But it's closed source nature, combined with its almost universal presence in scientific research is very troubling.
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Engineers use Matlab.
rich enough to use Mathematica? (Score:5, Informative)
does it matter that it's open source or not?
It does if you don't have $2400 to spend on a copy of Mathematica.
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It does if you don't have $2400 to spend on a copy of Mathematica.
No, that only makes price, rather than freedom, matter.
Viewable source is strictly better than closed source, at least for technical reasons (and arguably for ethical ones as well). Trust me, on my day-to-day job having source code access to the vast majority of the SAP codebase (ie, everything above kernel level) makes it much, much easier to develop for it. Proper Open Source has, once again, technical advantages (especially BSD-style licenses: it's one of the best ways to make sure that the implementatio
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:5, Informative)
No advertising here, just a happy math nerd who was recently investigating alternatives like Maxima and SciLab himself recently, and was impressed that the new version of Mathematica leapfrogged them all by doing much more instead of just doing what it does faster.
(This despite the fact that Mathematica is, and nearly always has been, far more number-crunching power than I've ever needed in my academic or professional career.)
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Let me know when it leapfrogs them in openness.
Sorry, but as a mathematician and a teacher it's more important to me that a CAS application be (1) instructive and (2) correct.
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Let me know when it leapfrogs them in openness.
Sorry, but as a mathematician and a teacher it's more important to me that a CAS application be (1) instructive and (2) correct.
Which aren't mutually exclusive with openness.
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:5, Informative)
And you can use Mathematica, Matlab, Maple, Magma, Maxima, etc from inside Sage if you have those programs available.
Re:Slashvertisement (Score:4, Informative)
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Not really a slashvertisment, this IS big news for any mathmatics / physics student (probably comp sci too)
While ive found wxMaxima to be fairly useful and i use it at home, when im at uni mathmatica is simply much easier to use. Simple science software is an area where I feal that although the underlying software is probably available under the GPL (gnuplot, maxima, etc), because real geeks are happy to use it, not much work is put into producing a simple GUI.
Perhaps its a simple case of wrong tool for the
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My question is, "Does it come with nutty scientific theories [wolframscience.com] included?"
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Octave is a great program (I switched from MATLAB too, after my bought-and-paid-for copy of MATLAB was broken by a simple OS X upgrade). But Octave is not a symbolic computer algebra system like Mathematica, Maple, Maxima, etc., so it cannot properly be called a Mathematica alternative.
Wolfman? (Score:2, Interesting)
Seriously though this has the potential to do for this form of mathmatics what Spreadsheets did for Accounting.
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I think I'll pass. (Score:5, Funny)
A slashvertisment suggestion for tomorrow:
"The Pirate Bay also Releases Mathematica 7"
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That would be nice, but doesn't solve the problem of Mathemitca's notorious copy protection. From what I hear, even legitimate owners often have trouble getting past it.
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Re:I think I'll pass. (Score:4, Insightful)
OK, perhaps I should explain something.
1. Release team
2. Initial distribution (closed FTP, IRC etc)
3. Usenet
4. P2P (Torrents, Kademlia, etc)
The pirate bay folks don't do anything except shuffle bits.
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Where's the profit?
Re:I think I'll pass. (Score:5, Insightful)
>That would be nice,
It is.
>but doesn't solve the problem
It will.
>of Mathemitca's notorious copy protection.
The Pirate Bay verison of mathematica usually includes protection from copy protection.
>From what I hear, even legitimate owners often have trouble getting past it.
Legitimate owners of ANY copy protection system are generally having orders of magnitude more problems with those systems than users who just get clean copies at their Pirate Bay.
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Add me to the list. I was a mathematica user since 1.3 (386 with math coprocessor). I had a version I bought around 1995 in '99 after time with tech support I basically got an FU in terms of trying to install on my new machine.
At this point I use maple which is much more reasonable. Mathematica has obnoxious copy protection, strict licensing and the best product out there.
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I'd be very curious to hear your comparison of Maple versus Mathematica.
Worth noting Maple 12 Pro is not a whole lot cheaper than Mathematica 7. And although the academic version of Maple isn't time limited, it's a lot more expensive than renting the student version of Mathematica for 4 years.
One thing that's always intrigued me about Mathematica is the programming language, which I mostly know from an article Wolfram published in a computer magazine a long time ago. This is actually my main source of inter
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OK I"ll focus on the programming language. The mathematica programming language is a functional programming language which is semi-stateless . It feels similar to OCaml or Haskell. The maple language is standard procedural. From a programming perspective they both offer hugely powerful libraries of mathematical functions. For really obscure stuff you do better finding Mathematica libraries online.
In terms of documentation the maple docs are better written the mathematica ones are much more comprehens
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Pretty much covers the issues I was interested in. Thanks!
Refund please (Score:2, Informative)
Much handwaving, little meat, astonishing arrogance.
One of the most overhyped books I've ever actually been suckered into buying.
I found particularly offputting W's treatment of important parts of his own thesis (computational completeness of some automata) as commercial secrets
Re:Refund please (Score:5, Funny)
Much handwaving, little meat, astonishing arrogance.
Sounds more like his masturbation habits.
From my point of view (Score:5, Insightful)
This just seems like its got so bloated that it will likely be priced beyond the budget of most students.
I don't see why we have to have these all encompassing suites anyway, what's wrong with small tools at low cost which work together?
Its most likely that students who want but can't afford this will hit the torrent trackers, which isn't really what we want.
Re:From my point of view (Score:5, Informative)
>This just seems like its got so bloated that it will likely be priced beyond the budget of most students.
It isnt aimed at students.
>what's wrong with small tools at low cost which work together?
Wolfram does not want you to work with any competitor's product. He wants you to raise a mortgage in order to be able to pay for his "complete solution".
>which isn't really what we want.
Except it really is what most of us want. Why shouldn't it?
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No only is nothing wrong with that, it is the smartest way to go.
They want to be all encompassing to get money currently going to other companies, and the only way they see to do this is by bloating current software.
Sadly many managers don't see then benefit in several small apps, and many programmers would really know how to to it well.
Re:From my point of view (Score:5, Interesting)
The student version is cheap (free at most decent universities). The Wolfram folk are great if you need a deviation on the license for student stuff (running on a multi-processor machine before multiple kernel executions were included in the default license); just ask. As a long-time student, Mathematica is the greatest tool out there, and is the only software out there where I'm consistently excited about no versions, and /always/ find ways to incorporate at least a few of the new features in my existing notebooks. With Mathematica 6, Manipulate[] was an absolute game changer. With Mathematica 7, I'm betting ParallelTable[] and the new charting features will be just as big a deal, for me.
Re:From my point of view (Score:4, Interesting)
Manipulate[] alone beats every chalkboard/whiteboard/overhead projector hands down. I found it to be a profound aid in teaching myself concepts such as curvature on a line or a plane and other things.
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and is the only software out there where I'm consistently excited about no versions, and /always/ find ways to incorporate at least a few of the new features in my existing notebooks.
You must be really excited considering that every new version of Mathematica programming language is slightly but ever more and more incompatible with the Mathematica language of the previous versions. They don't only add functions and functionalities or whatever, they also change the language.
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Mathematica is the greatest tool out there, and is the only software out there where I'm consistently excited about no versions
I'd have to agree with you. There are no versions of Mathemetica that excite me, either.
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s/no/new. My bad.
Re:From my point of view (Score:5, Insightful)
If you're a student, you can get a copy that expires after a year for $150. Not cheap, but in the same range as your (overpriced) physics textbook.
Me, I have no professional or educational requirement for the thing, but I'd like to have a copy for self-education purposes. But $2K is a bit much. I suppose 5 or 6 would be adequate for that purpose. $150 on eBay.
It's interesting that Mathematica is still supported on MacOS, Linux (including Itanium!) and Solaris. Support for AIX only disappeared recently. Supporting all those platforms does drive up costs just a bit.
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Mac was the home platform for a while. Windows was the difficult (but essential) port for Wolfram research.
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I don't get all this bias against Mathematica. So, anything not free & open source is bad?
Most universities give this for free to their students. At least both my undergrad and my grad did. Even if yours does not give it, it costs $140 for students, not much more than some expensive textbooks. There is even a 1-year time limited version for half the price (although I don't like renting software myself).
Now, about the software itself, it is almost a decade since I was doing a Physics degree but I still r
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I am not getting your point.
Are you saying it is not useful ? My string theorist friend (last time we talked working on something about supersymmetry & orbifolds but I "forgot" - i.e. didn't understand - the details), assures me it is very valuable in her field.
Are you saying everybody already knows it is useful? I never said otherwise.
As for Einstein, it is well known that he would discuss with great mathematicians to learn about math concepts/tools that might prove useful. You doubt that he would have
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Student editions are much, much cheaper.
For example, a complete version of Matlab costs around
$20000 for students
$50000 for government agencies
$150000 for commercial organizations
The only difference is a "student edition" message that is displayed along with the "command prompt initialized" message. And no student will need the $20K copy, probably the needed modules will cost $1000.
Fuck Mathematica (Score:4, Informative)
and fuck Matlab too, while we are at it. I got a free hit of Matlab in university and then found out how much they charge for licenses only after I was an addict (had a pile of useful code that I didn't want to throw away). I am not going to keep paying for the privilege of running my own code and am busily learning Python.
Mathematica code belongs to Wolfram Research, Matlab code belongs to the Mathworks, but Python code can be MINE! (and yours too, if I want to give it to you.)
I don't buy into the virtual machines they are pushing now either; they might be free as in beer, but it is only a short-term solution and is nothing more than "free hits" to generate more addicts that need licenses.
Re:Fuck Mathematica (Score:5, Informative)
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Will it do the audio and image stuff too?
All the Matlab code I ever wrote was for a multimedia class, like audio compression, implementing Philips' algorithm they use in their HDTVs to make low-def TV look sharper, face recognition, and creating a frame of video from elements of the previous frame.
In the course of doing practical stuff, there were some neat looking effects I ended up creating that I've thought about applying on some images.
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I recall getting doing just about all of the work for my DSP classes in Octave, but some functions are different. I don't remember about my image processing class; most of it was in C++ anyway. To get the DSP and image stuff you'll have to look on octave-forge.
I also recall, in my DSP class, having the best-looking graphs in the class. I can hardly believe it's impossible to get decent-looking graphs out of Matlab, but nobody in my classes knew how.
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Re:Fuck Mathematica (Score:5, Insightful)
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The problem is "practically." I just had to use Matlab over Octave because Octave doesn't fully support the eigs() function. For many things Octave is fine, but it still lags behind Matlab in a lot of areas.
Re:Fuck Mathematica (Score:5, Informative)
You don't have to throw that code away or port it to an entirely different language (though Python rocks, and I wish my day-to-day job let me use more of it) Try GNU Octave [gnu.org] - that's what I used to back in college because my department didn't have licensed copies of MATLAB installed/available, so-called student versions were insanely impossible and expensive to get hold of (Indian students can't afford $100), and I didn't want to pick a pirated one like the rest of the class.
Possible the first open-spurce software I practically used (except playing with Linux).
Code was very cross-compatible between Octave and MATLAB, except say constants like "e" and "exp" (and of course the MATLAB-specific toolkits). The toughest part at that time was explaining to the professor (who had no idea what "open-source" was) that I did *not* use MATLAB, but it would run on MATLAB fine if he wanted to check that my assignments work fine.
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I'm sure that the "free hit" is part of their plan. But, once you are working in a position that require Matlab it becomes a business expense. It is no different than the $2,000 workstation in that respect. Presumably your work with it will net you significant profits.
It is niche market software that costs a lot to develop. The people that need it will pay for it.
Free Alternative? Sage maybe. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Free Alternative? Sage maybe. (Score:4, Interesting)
>the usability of Sage blows. It's pretty powerful sure, but when even Maple is easier to
>use then you've got a problem
What do you actually mean by "easier to use", regarding a computer algebra system for doing heavy math? Clicketyclicking around without having to actually learn to use it? This easy to use mem may actually have some validity in desktop environments and generall consumer leisure apps, but I'm wondering to actually see such unwillingness to learn from people doing _MATH_, which are, by definition, required to be curious into how things work and not just clicking around and rotating colorful 3D surfaces the whole day.
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Just because someone is a dedicated mathematician or scientist doesn't mean they want to deal with a bad UI. It will take time to learn either system, but why would you want to put more effort into doing the same thing? You don't learn Mathematica for the sake of learning it. You learn it so you can work on something else. The more time you have to put into learning software the less you have left for your real interests.
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I thought that Sage was quite easy to learn - and I hadn't used Python before I started. I haven't used Mathematica, but I've used Maple and Magma for a few years. There didn't seem to be any difference in learning curve between Sage and the commercial options. In some cases the tutorials and reference were a lot more helpful.
In general, open source software tends to have a crap user interface compared to the commercial application being cloned. In this case the browser based notebook is up there with maple
that's a lot of smart programmers (Score:2)
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that's a lot of smart programmers. I don't think most programmers go through all that higher level math, and I'm not sure most mathematicians know how to program. No wonder it's expensive
That's funny; I've always believed computer science to be just a highly applied form of abstract mathematics. And, of course, there's the simple fact that electronic computers were invented to speed up mathematical computations -- "computer" used to be a job description, remember?
It's true that most programmers don't bother with high-level math -- although they'd better pass calculus if they want to understand O(n) vs. O(log(n)) -- and most mathematicians don't bother with high-level programming languages.
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I completely agree that computer science is related to math. I personally actually like math and physics and whatnot, to the extent that I'm reading a textbook (I guess) on spacetime physics for fun. But I think you have to admit that many aspects of computer science *today* are very far removed from actual mathematical calculations or even mathematical ability (e.g., you don't have to take calculus to write a PHP script). You don't have to have any electrical engineering knowledge to "build" a computer,
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But I think you have to admit that many aspects of computer science *today* are very far removed from actual mathematical calculations or even mathematical ability (e.g., you don't have to take calculus to write a PHP script).
With all due respect (and speaking as an ex-web programmer myself), PHP scripting is about as far removed from computer science as carpentry is from the logging industry. You have to know the difference between an efficient and an inefficient algorithm, but it's a far cry from optimizing the script interpreter itself.
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Why? It doesn't have anything to do with calculus.
API sucks (Score:5, Informative)
I had to write some code using the Mathematica API once, and it hurt. It provides a pipe of tokens, but if you ask for the wrong token, it hangs. You can peak at the front of the queue, but it's still the case that every time you want to read in a token you have to write code to expect any of a million different types of token for all the crazy error messages you never knew you might get.
Also, the GUI is awful. That notebook metaphor just does not work. You want to remove a buggy line of code somewhere but it might be attached to another block so it's really hard to get hold of it. The navigation keys (pg up, end and so on) don't work as you'd expect in an editor so you become very mouse reliant, which is awful for anybody used to working in a programming environment.
In my experience, Matlab is far superior although as others have pointed out, I'd still rather be working in Python. Numpy anybody?
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As of Mathematica 6 they also have an Eclipse-based IDE with an integrated debugger.
And you don't have to write notebooks at all, you can also write packages.
cost, features, and random ramblings (Score:4, Insightful)
I've used Maple, Mathematica, and SAS, among other products, for mathematical and/or statistical analysis. From a programming/features perspective, each has its own strengths--and weaknesses.
I'll only briefly mention cost. These things are expensive because it's not like any random programmer can build this kind of software. Especially with Mathematica, these are heavily-researched algorithms that are nontrivial to implement. Also, the market is small for such a specialized and sophisticated application. Your average person isn't ever going to be able to use something like this. They barely know what the quadratic formula is. (They should, but that's an entirely different story.) You think they need to invert a 20x20 matrix? Or compute the Galois group of a quintic? Or even do a simple hypothesis test?
As for the image manipulation stuff, I think that comparisons to Photoshop are a bit naive. Clearly, it's not supposed to be for people who want to do red-eye reduction on their family photos. It's not even for graphic designers or photographers. It's for scientists who want an algorithmic approach to adjusting their images, either for research or for purposes of publication. Could you do these things in Photoshop? Sure. Could you then say what formula or algorithm was applied to the image to produce that specific result? No. And conversely, you wouldn't do layer composition, masking, or on-the-fly tonal adjustments with Mathematica.
FWIW I hate the copy protection on it too. It's infuriating and a burden to legitimate users while doing little to deter piracy.
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These things are expensive because it's not like any random programmer can build this kind of software. Especially with Mathematica, these are heavily-researched algorithms that are nontrivial to implement.
This is not entirely true, of course. Mathematica implements tons of well-known many-times implemented classic algorithms that have been and will be implemented, more or less efficiently. Then, it uses LAPACK and ARPACK, etc, etc. There are some original portions of Mathematica I'm sure, but which ones and how original remains buried under the copyright.
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About that 'Photoshop clone'... (Score:2)
As much as Adobe would like to sell it as the tool for EVERY purpose under the sun - Photoshop is not really aimed at mathematical/scientific image processing. It was originally aimed at pre-press as a complement to PostScript and Illustrator, and later diversified to web production, etc.
Photoshop has a severe case of feature creep - resulting in a product that, instead of doing one thing well (it always was the leader in print production), does too many things less well.
Mathematica's new features hardly am
Fun with waves (Score:2)
It can be fun playing the waveform of a given function as a sound. Coolest Mathematica feature :D.
useful to (Score:2)
" ... is designed to make Mathematica as invaluable for scientific research as it is for mathematics"
The last time I talked to any mathematicians about Mathematica, they rolled their eyes and said that their primary tool was pencil and paper.
Re:I love mathematica (Score:5, Informative)
Other Recently Added Features:
Visualization & Graphics
High-Impact Adaptive Visualization
Automated Computational Aesthetics
Fully Automated Graph Layout
Real-Time 3D Graphics
Automated Table Layout
Dynamic Interactivity
Mathematics & Algorithms
Integrated Geometric Computing
Combinatorial Optimization
Constrained Nonlinear Optimization
Equational Theorem Proving
High-Level String Computation
New Generation Numerical Integration
Computable Data
Financial Data
Astronomical Data
Country Data
Particle Data
Graph Data
Mathematical Data
Data Manipulation
Exploratory Data Analysis
Symbolic Sound Support
Symbolic Report Generation
3D Printing & Scanning Support
Symbolic Statistical Computing
Core Language
Unification of Graphics, Text & Controls
Language for Data Integration
Dynamic Graphical Input
Instant Multimedia Programming
Real-Time Code Annotation
Instant High-Level Debugging
Interface & User Experience
Symbolic Interface Construction
Integrated Graphics Editing & Drawing
Built-in Gamepad & HID Support
Streamlined Presentation Framework
New Documentation Framework Dynamic Interactivity
Re:I love mathematica (Score:5, Funny)
Uhh...
> High-Impact Adaptive Visualization
It's got graphics now.
> Automated Computational Aesthetics
You don't have to graph things out by hand.
> Fully Automated Graph Layout
You don't have to graph things out by hand.
> Real-Time 3D Graphics
If you change your equation, the graph changes too.
> Automated Table Layout
Shows you the points they graphed.
> Dynamic Interactivity
It's got a GUI.
> Integrated Geometric Computing
Runs on a computer following Moore's law, hence "geometric" advancement.
> Combinatorial Optimization
Solve the Travelling Salesman problem by something other than brute force.
> Equational Theorem Proving
Okay, that could be cool... if the previous versions didn't have it already.
> New Generation Numerical Integration
It can use numbers now?
> Computable Data
> Financial Data
> Astronomical Data
> Country Data
> Particle Data
> Graph Data
> Mathematical Data
Since this is a list of "New Features", previous versions of Mathematica could not be used for these purposes. All you could do was show a fellow math geek how that humanities major had a really nice set of 80085.
> Unification of Graphics, Text & Controls
In previous versions, you were lucky if what you wrote or clicked resembled anything like the output! Now, when when you type in "y=x", you actually get a straight diagonal line, instead of one of the spirally partial differential functions we like to put on the cover of the manual!
> Language for Data Integration
There's now its own scripting language. Whoa, Mathematica never had *that* before!
> Dynamic Graphical Input
Use symbols you never thought possible! Like that squiggly "integrate" symbol, or that lambda derive-like thingy. Even use that upside-down "U" for set theory!
> Instant Multimedia Programming
Uses both Video and Audio! Include a Youtube video in your equations of Stephen himself telling you how wrong your equation is!
> Real-Time Code Annotation
Add "comments" whenever and wherever you want! No other language has the ability to "comment" on your code!
> Instant High-Level Debugging
Be able to step through your code and set break points! Stephen is the first person to think of it! No other programming IDE has ever done anything so revolutionary!
> Integrated Graphics Editing & Drawing
Did your equations predict that the Mars Lander was going to crash and burn? Use the Graph Editor to change the equation output, and show your fellow engineers a perfect atmospheric re-entry! Then re-sell those high-risk equations to an over-leveraged engineer who does care! You'll be long gone by the time they realize what you've done! This feature brought to you by the Lenders Association of US Banks.
> HID Support
You may now use a mouse and keyboard in this version, instead of simply shouting at the screen, hoping it'll do something!
> Streamlined Presentation Framework
Use an overhead projector instead of a video monitor to show your results!
> New Documentation Framework Dynamic Interactivity
We'd like to call it "Google"...
Solomon Chang
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"Other Recently Added Features..."
Talk it over w/Wolfram...their marketing staff [wolfram.com] is standing by
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With heart, you get an apocalypse involving tribbles.
Re:Fuck Mathematica (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fuck Mathematica (Score:5, Informative)
Maple 12 life!
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>The amount of skill and programming know how to make a program like Mathematica is amazing.
You mean, as amazing as the amount of skill and know how required for practically every large scale application?
>I would love to see the code on how they do things.
You can any time start looking at and learning from completely free systems like GNU Octave, Sage or SciLab.
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You certainly don't know what it takes to program a scientific program. It's not your "usual" large-scale application. It's far more involved than you think it is. You cannot simply have some mad programming skills to make it. You also need to have some mad math skills to make some REAL optimizations.
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I really think that it would solve any math problem that one would ever come across as an undergrad (and even grad level). I had a prof whom I visited once after graduation and he had just gone through one of his student's Ph.d. thesis and in a
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Actually, it does. The Itanium-Linux version costs an extra K, though.
Re:But does it (Score:5, Funny)
Mathematica 7 is so powerful, Linux runs on it
Re:fp (Score:4, Funny)
After being denied internet access for 3 years
Yeah, prison will do that too you.
Layne
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Redundant!? Bad mod alert... (Score:2)
*Some* of this comment's content has been covered in the story and discussion, but not nearly all of it. The redundant mod isn't apt.